22. Obsessed: A Memoir of My Life with OCD by Allison Britz

listened on Audible
368 pgs. (9:58)

2017
YA & Adult Memoir 
Finished 3/21/24
Goodreads rating: 3.92
My rating: 4.5
Setting: contemporary anywhere, USA

My comments: Wow.  Although the protagonist is a 15-year old sophomore, this book would be very appropriate for a middle school.  A memoir, it gives a deep examination of how a seemingly normal, average, pretty-much-happy young girl can slip totally into OCD.  I was very sad, depressed, and frustrated through the first half of the book, but it also discussed getting better.  It was difficult, and she did it without meds - and knows that she will have to live with symptoms for the rest of her life.

Goodreads synopsis:  A brave teen recounts her debilitating struggle with obsessive-compulsive disorder—and brings readers through every painful step as she finds her way to the other side—in this powerful and inspiring memoir.

Until sophomore year of high school, fifteen-year-old Allison Britz lived a comfortable life in an idyllic town. She was a dedicated student with tons of extracurricular activities, friends, and loving parents at home.

But after awakening from a vivid nightmare in which she was diagnosed with brain cancer, she was convinced the dream had been a warning. Allison believed that she must do something to stop the cancer in her dream from becoming a reality.

It started with avoiding sidewalk cracks and quickly grew to counting steps as loudly as possible. Over the following weeks, her brain listed more dangers and fixes. She had to avoid hair dryers, calculators, cell phones, computers, anything green, bananas, oatmeal, and most of her own clothing.

Unable to act “normal,” the once-popular Allison became an outcast. Her parents questioned her behavior, leading to explosive fights. When notebook paper, pencils, and most schoolbooks were declared dangerous to her health, her GPA imploded, along with her plans for the future.

Finally, she allowed herself to ask for help and was diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder. This brave memoir tracks Allison’s descent and ultimately hopeful climb out of the depths.

99. Leave No Trace by Mindy Mejia

listened to Audio, borrowed from Bosler
narrated by Patricia Rodriguez
Unabridged audio (9:56)
2018/Atria Emily Bestler Books
352 pgs.
Adult Mystery
Finished 10/13/2019
Goodreads rating:  3.60 - 3640 ratings
My rating:  4
Setting: Contemporary Minnesota

First line/s: "By the time the boy in ward four attached me, I'd already nicknamed him "the Lost One" in my head."

My comments:  Set mostly in a mental hospital, this story is the tale of two young people and the mental legacies they receive from their parents.  As their stories begin to intermingle, my mind was in a constant state of "what would I do in this situation?"  I was quite caught up in the story. 

Goodreads synopsis:  From the author of the “compelling” (Star Tribune, Minneapolis) and critically acclaimed Everything You Want Me to Be, a riveting and suspenseful thriller about the mysterious disappearance of a boy and his stunning return ten years later.
          There is a place in Minnesota with hundreds of miles of glacial lakes and untouched forests called the Boundary Waters. Ten years ago a man and his son trekked into this wilderness and never returned.
          Search teams found their campsite ravaged by what looked like a bear. They were presumed dead until a decade later...the son appeared. Discovered while ransacking an outfitter store, he was violent and uncommunicative and sent to a psychiatric facility. Maya Stark, the assistant language therapist, is charged with making a connection with their high-profile patient. No matter how she tries, however, he refuses to answer questions about his father or the last ten years of his life
          But Maya, who was abandoned by her own mother, has secrets, too. And as she’s drawn closer to this enigmatic boy who is no longer a boy, she’ll risk everything to reunite him with his father who has disappeared from the known world.

MOVIE - Glass

PG-13 (1:50)

Wide release 1/18/19

Viewed 1/22/19 at Carlisle 8

IMBd: 7/10

RT Critic:  37  Audience:  74

Critic's Consensus:  Glass displays a few glimmers of M. Night Shyamalan at his twisty world-building best, but ultimately disappoints as the conclusion to the writer-director's long-gestating trilogy.

Cag:    4/Liked it a lot

Directed by M. Night Shyamalen

Universal Pictures

Bruce Willis, James McAvoy, Samuel L. Jackson, Sarah Paulson

My comments:  Good move, what I would call a psychological thriller.  James McAvoy was wonderful as the multi-split-personality creepo that he apparently portrayed in the movie Split a year or so back.  Wish I had seen it.  Then I discovered that the Bruce Willis character and the Samuel Jackson characters were in a previous movie together, and this must've been somewhat of a continuation?  It didn't matter because you didn't have to see either one of those to totally get drawn into this one.  I was a little nervous that I was not going to understand, at the end, what we really going on, but they did give enough information to make it completely understandable.  It take place in Philadelphia and was filmed in Philadelphia and Allentown, apparently.   Good entertainment.

RT/ IMDb Summary  From Unbreakable, Bruce Willis returns as David Dunn as does Samuel L. Jackson as Elijah Price, known also by his pseudonym Mr. Glass. Joining from Split are James McAvoy, reprising his role as Kevin Wendell Crumb and the multiple identities who reside within, and Anya Taylor-Joy as Casey Cooke, the only captive to survive an encounter with The Beast. Following the conclusion of Split, Glass finds Dunn pursuing Crumb's superhuman figure of The Beast in a series of escalating encounters, while the shadowy presence of Price emerges as an orchestrator who holds secrets critical to both men.

36. Dead Letters by Caite Dolan-Leach

read on my iPhone and Kindle
2017 Random House
352 pgs.
Adult Mystery
Finished  4/15/18
Goodreads rating:  3.59 - 4848 ratings
My rating:  3
Setting:  Contemporary upstate New York

First line/s:  "A born creator of myths, my sister always liked to tell the story of how we were misnamed."

My comments:  The story was pretty decent. A good mystery, no surprises but interesting to watch them play out. The characters were, for the most part, pretty unlikable. Major alcoholics, narcissists, self/centered idiots. I know you don’t have to like the characters to have a good book, but in this case it would make the book that much more enjoyable.!

Goodreads synopsis: A missing woman leads her twin sister on a twisted scavenger hunt in this clever debut novel of suspense for readers of Luckiest Girl Alive and Reconstructing Amelia.
          Ahoy, Ava! Welcome home, my sweet jet-setting twin! So glad you were able to wrest yourself away from your dazzling life in the City of Light; I hope my death hasn't interrupted anything too crucial.
          Ava Antipova has her reasons for running away: a failing family vineyard, a romantic betrayal, a mercurial sister, an absent father, a mother slipping into dementia. In Paris, Ava renounces her terribly practical undergraduate degree, acquires a French boyfriend and a taste for much better wine, and erases her past. Two years later, she must return to upstate New York. Her twin sister, Zelda, is dead.
          Even in a family of alcoholics, Zelda Antipova was the wild one, notorious for her mind games and destructive behavior. Stuck tending the vineyard and the girls increasingly unstable mother, Zelda was allegedly burned alive when she passed out in the barn with a lit cigarette. But Ava finds the official explanation a little too neat. A little too Zelda. Then she receives a cryptic message from her sister.
          Just as Ava suspected, Zelda's playing one of her games. In fact, she's outdone herself, leaving a series of clues about her disappearance. With the police stuck on a red herring, Ava follows the trail laid just for her, thinking like her sister, keeping her secrets, immersing herself in Zelda's drama and her outlandish circle of friends and lovers. Along the way, Zelda forces her twin to confront their twisted history and the boy who broke Ava's heart. But why? Is Zelda trying to punish Ava for leaving, or to teach her a lesson? Or is she simply trying to write her own ending?
          Featuring a colorful, raucous cast of characters, Caite Dolan-Leach's debut thriller takes readers on a literary scavenger hunt for clues concealed throughout the seemingly idyllic wine country, hidden in plain sight on social media, and buried at the heart of one tremendously dysfunctional, utterly unforgettable family.

4. Turtles All the Way Down by John Green

read on my iPhone
2017 Dutton Books for Young Readers
290 pgs.
YA/CRF
Finished 1/8/18
Goodreads rating: 4.14 - 66,158 ratings
My rating: 5
Setting: contemporary Indianapolis, IN

First line/s:  "I might be fictional, my weekdays were spent at a publicly funded institution on the north side of Indianapolis called White River High School, where I was required to eat lunch at a particular time -- between 12:37 p.m. and 1:14 p.m. -- by forces so much larger than myself that I couldn't even begin to identify them."

My comments:  What makes a book "good?"  What is it in a story that leaves you feeling that you just read something really special?  It doesn't happen very often, but when it does, you know it, you feel it.You overlook some of the little things that don't work  for you.   Turtles All the Way Down taught me many lessons.  As hard as I try to empathize with people with mental illnesses, I have to admit that those are some of the many, many times in my life that I'm uncomfortable.  It's books like this one that give you unprecedented insight into what goes on in a mind that's slightly awry.  And Aza's mind is more than a little slightly awry.  This was an incredibly powerful book for me.  Great storytelling.  Great character building.  Great relationships, particularly Aza and Daisy's relationship, best friends forever (as dumb as that may sound) and Aza and her mom's relationship, which makes me look back upon my relationship with my mom, and with my kids.  And I'm so impressed that John Green can write the character of a female protagonist  with such assurance. fI was impressed, inspired, and completely saddened by this work of art.

Goodreads synopsis: #1 bestselling author John Green returns with his first new novel since The Fault in Our Stars!
          Sixteen-year-old Aza never intended to pursue the mystery of fugitive billionaire Russell Pickett, but there’s a hundred-thousand-dollar reward at stake and her Best and Most Fearless Friend, Daisy, is eager to investigate. So together, they navigate the short distance and broad divides that separate them from Russell Pickett’s son, Davis.
          Aza is trying. She is trying to be a good daughter, a good friend, a good student, and maybe even a good detective, while also living within the ever-tightening spiral of her own thoughts. 
          In his long-awaited return, John Green, the acclaimed, award-winning author of Looking for Alaska and The Fault in Our Stars, shares Aza’s story with shattering, unflinching clarity in this brilliant novel of love, resilience, and the power of lifelong friendship.

43. The Odds of Loving Grover Cleveland by Rebekah Crane

read on my iPhone
2016, Skyscape
260 pgs.
YA CRF
Finished 7-26-2017
Goodreads rating:  3.96 - 8256 ratings
My rating: 4.5
Setting: Contemporary summer at a summer camp on a lake in Michigan

First line/s:  "The doorknob locks with a single key from the inside of the cabin.n  My bag hangs over my shoulder as I stare at the silver knob like it might start talking.  This can't be legal."

My comments:  Welcome to Camp Padua, where, on a lake in Michigan troubled teenagers spend the summer in cabins: living, eating, sharing (or not sharing) their problems and quirks and oddities.  Most of the story is told from the protagonist, Zander's, (or Z for short) point of view.  It's a good story, though a troubling one.  It's also the story of friendship between four young adults, two guys and two girls, all suffering from different mental problems.  Friendship.  Caring.  Trusting.  Loving.  that's what these kids ultimately found, but it wasn't easy.

Goodreads synopsis: According to sixteen-year-old Zander Osborne, nowhere is an actual place—and she’s just fine there. But her parents insist that she get out of her head—and her home state—and attend Camp Padua, a summer camp for at-risk teens.
          Zander does not fit in—or so she thinks. She has only one word for her fellow campers: crazy. In fact, the whole camp population exists somewhere between disaster and diagnosis. There’s her cabinmate Cassie, a self-described manic-depressive-bipolar-anorexic. Grover Cleveland (yes, like the president), a cute but confrontational boy who expects to be schizophrenic someday, odds being what they are. And Bek, a charmingly confounding pathological liar.
          But amid group “share-apy” sessions and forbidden late-night outings, unlikely friendships form, and as the Michigan summer heats up, the four teens begin to reveal their tragic secrets. Zander finds herself inextricably drawn to Grover’s earnest charms, and she begins to wonder if she could be happy. But first she must come completely unraveled to have any hope of putting herself back together again.

MOVIE - The Dinner

R (2:00)

Limited release 5/5/17

Viewed 5/8/17 at The Majestic Theater in Gettysburg, PA
IMBd: 5.5

RT Critic: 53   Audience:  17
Critic's Consensus:  The Dinner's strong ensemble isn't enough to overcome a screenplay that merely skims the surface of its source material's wit and insight.

Cag:  3/ Liked some of it a lot, didn't like some of it a lot....

Directed by Oren Moverman

Chubbco Film Company

Based on the novel by Herman Koch

Richard Gere, Laura Linnley, Steve Coogan, Rebecca Hall, Chloe Sevigny

My comments:  This was one bizarre movie.  And what will follow contain spoilers, I'm sure. Because you can't talk about this movie without mentioning spoilers.  Mental illness is not the biggest theme in the movie. Overprotecting children, total and complete selfishness, "bad" kids, and good politicians - all the major themes are almost polar opposite of what we would like to think we believe - as "good" people of the world.  And as I let this movie sit, and sink in, and stir inside my head, I'm incredulous.  The only sane, good person, was the politician.  The rest were so totally flawed that that the only redemption might come to the brother with mental illness.  But not unless he rids himself of his ridiculous wife.  Mental health issues are a sickness, and this point is made abundantly clear (thank goodness) in this movie.  But the director really copped out when it came to the ending.
     I can't believe that I watched this movie in a theater in Gettysburg, not knowing that part of it was set in Gettysburg. That was quite a surprise. A great surprise.  One of the shots was the exact same shot I took a couple of weeks ago! The actors were superb.  But I think the story was confusingly woven in a way that the majority of viewers will get really confused.  I know that for me not to have someone to discuss it with is a huge downfall.  I need Sheila!
     And after the cop-out ending, the music BLARING from the screen was "Don't let them fuckers get you down."  The whole experience was a bizarre one.  I know that all the other people in the theater with me (about a dozen) left the theater complaining and/or scratching their heads.

RT/ IMDb Summary:  When Stan Lohman (Richard Gere), a popular congressman running for governor, invites his troubled younger brother Paul (Steve Coogan) and his wife Claire (Laura Linney) to join him and his wife Katelyn (Rebecca Hall) for dinner at one of the town's most fashionable restaurants, the stage is set for a tense night. While Stan and Paul have been estranged since childhood, their 16-year- old sons are friends, and the two of them have committed a horrible crime that has shocked the country. While their sons' identities have not yet been discovered and may never be, their parents must now decide what action to take. As the night proceeds, beliefs about the true natures of the four people at the table are upended, relationships shatter, and each person reveals just how far they are willing to go to protect those they love.

38. The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox - Maggie O'Farrell

Audio CD read by Anne Flosnik
2006 Houghton Mifflin
2007 Blackstone Audio
245 pgs.
Contemporary realistic fiction with forays into the 2nd quarter of the 20th century
Finished June 30, 2016 on my second trip this summer north to Maine
Goodreads rating: 3.80 (17,700 ratings)
My rating: 5
Setting: Contemporary Scotland

First line/s:  "Let us begin with two girls at a dance.  They are at the edge of the room.  One sits on a chair, opening and shutting a dance card with gloved fingers.  The other stands beside her, watching the dance unfold:  the circling couples, the clasped hands, the drumming shoes, the whirling skirts, the bounce of the floor.  It is the last hour of the year and the windows behind them are blank with night.  The seated girls is dressed in something pale, Esme forgets what, the other in a dark red frock that doesn't suit her.  She has lost her gloves.  It begins here."

My comments:  This was a really good story. Well written, well read.  Iris, a 30-something with a complicated love life, discovers she has an unknown great-aunt - Esme - that's been hidden away in an asylum for 61 years - since she was 16.  And there was absolutely no reason for it.  The story unfolds in many ways - in the memories of both Esme and her now-senile sister Kitty and in the current day happenings of Iris and Esme. The reader had a wonderful British/Scottish lilt and the story was quite mesmerizing. (It did leave me with a real sense of anger about mental-health issues and the little regard society had for women just a short time ago in our history.)

Goodreads synopsis:  In the middle of tending to the everyday business at her vintage-clothing shop and sidestepping her married boyfriend’s attempts at commitment, Iris Lockhart receives a stunning phone call: Her great-aunt Esme, whom she never knew existed, is being released from Cauldstone Hospital—where she has been locked away for more than sixty-one years.
          Iris’s grandmother Kitty always claimed to be an only child. But Esme’s papers prove she is Kitty’s sister, and Iris can see the shadow of her dead father in Esme’s face. 
          Esme has been labeled harmless—sane enough to coexist with the rest of the world. But she's still basically a stranger, a family member never mentioned by the family, and one who is sure to bring life-altering secrets with her when she leaves the ward. If Iris takes her in, what dangerous truths might she inherit?
          A gothic, intricate tale of family secrets, lost lives, and the freedom brought by truth, The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox will haunt you long past its final page.

65. The Good Luck of Right Now - Matthew Quick

2014 Harper Collins

285 pgs.

Adult Contemporary Realistic Fiction

Finished 10/17/14

Goodreads rating: 3.60

My rating:   3.5 Liked it a lot, with one reservation

TPPL

Setting: Contemporary Philadelphia with a foray to Montreal and Ottawa

1st sentence/s: "Dear Mr. Richard Gere,  In Mom's underwear drawer -- as I was separating her "personal" clothes from the "lightly used" articles I could donate to the local thrift shop -- I found a letter you wrote."

My comments: This book was certainly quirky and fun. And funny.  The protagonist, Bartholemew (love that name!) Neil reminded me a bit of The Rosie Project's Don Tillman. But somehow it's impossible to totally picture a grown man of 38 never having a job, a friend other than the local priest and his mom, a vocation, a hobby, an interest... I tried and tried to conjure an image of this poor guy, but to no avail.  My imagination is usually pretty good, but to totally love a book I need to relate in some way and I couldn't. I wasn't IN this story, I was watching from afar, if that makes any sense.... But I still liked it very, very much.
      Here's a quote that resonated: "Back before she got sick, mom always used to say, "for every bad thing that happens, a good thing happens, too - and this is how the world stays in harmony." Whenever too many good things happened to us, mom would say, "I feel sorry for whoever is getting screwed to balance all of this out,": because she believed that our good meant that someone else somewhere in the world was experiencing bad.  It actually depressed her when our luck was very good.  Mom hated to think about others suffering so that we might enjoy our life."

Goodreads book summary: For thirty-eight years, Bartholomew Neil has lived with his mother. When she gets sick and dies, he has no idea how to be on his own. His redheaded grief counselor, Wendy, says he needs to find his flock and leave the nest. But how does a man whose whole life has been grounded in his mom, Saturday mass, and the library learn how to fly?
          Bartholomew thinks he’s found a clue when he discovers a “Free Tibet” letter from Richard Gere hidden in his mother’s underwear drawer. In her final days, mom called him Richard—there must be a cosmic connection. Believing that the actor is meant to help him, Bartholomew awkwardly starts his new life, writing Richard Gere a series of highly intimate letters. Jung and the Dalai Lama, philosophy and faith, alien abduction and cat telepathy, the Catholic Church and the mystery of women are all explored in his soul-baring epistles. But mostly the letters reveal one man’s heartbreakingly earnest attempt to assemble a family of his own.
          A struggling priest, a “Girlbrarian,” her feline-loving, foul-mouthed brother, and the spirit of Richard Gere join the quest to help Bartholomew. In a rented Ford Focus, they travel to Canada to see the cat Parliament and find his biological father . . . and discover so much more.

MOVIE - Frankie & Alice

R (1:42)

Wide Release 4/4/2014 (although I don't think it was in any major theaters?)

Viewed 5/1/2014 at Century Gateway/cheap theaters

RT Critic: 21 Audience: 59

Cag: 4/Liked it a lot

Directed by Geoffrey Sax

Code Black Entertainment

Halle Berry, Stellan Skarsgard, Phylicia Rashad, Chandra Wilson

My comments:  I'll have to read some of the reviews, because I can't imagine why critics gave this movie such lousy reviews.  It's about a woman with multiple personality disorder.  It's based on a true story and takes place in 1973.  Halle Berry was wonderful as Frankie/Alice/Genius.  And I always enjoy Stellan Skarsgard in any role - he played her psychiatrist.  It was a fascinating story with a touch of mystery, as "Dr. Oz" began figuring out what was going on and what secrets were being kept by each of the three personalities.the two personalities that "inhabited" Frankie....

Reviews:  FRANKIE & ALICE is inspired by the remarkable true story of an African American go-go dancer "Frankie" with multiple personalities (dissociative identity disorder or "DID") who struggles to remain her true self while fighting against two very unique alter egos: a seven-year-old child named Genius and a Southern white racist woman named Alice. In order to stop the multiple voices in her head, Frankie (Halle Berry) works together with a psychotherapist (Stellan Skarsgard) to uncover and overcome the mystery of the inner ghosts that haunt her.

MOVIE - Silver Linings Playbook

R (2:00)

Supposedly widely released 11/21/12 (but not here in Tucson!)

Viewed Monday, 1/7/13 at El Con

RT Critic: 91  Audience: 90

Cag:  Awesome/Terrific/More-than loved it *6*

Directed by David O. Russell

The Weinstein Company

Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Robert DeNiro, Jacki Weaver, Chris Tucker

I was totally entranced by this film.  Bradley Cooper was wonderful as a bipolar man trying his best to keep his life together without medication.  Robert DeNiro, the father who loved him (and ultimately had similar mental disabilities as his son), was so believable. Jacki Weaver, the mom, was right-on perfect (I though she was an aged Sally Struthers throughout the movie) Chris Tucker, who played the in-again, out-again friend, added just the right touch.  And Jennifer Lawrence just shined.  She nailed the part.  What a cast!  What a story!  Such fantastic acting!!!!  I loved it. And I'd watch it again and again.

MOVIE INFO

Life doesn't always go according to plan. Pat Solatano (Bradley Cooper) has lost everything -- his house, his job, and his wife. He now finds himself living back with his mother (Jacki Weaver) and father (Robert DeNiro) after spending eight months is a state institution on a plea bargain. Pat is determined to rebuild his life, remain positive and reunite with his wife, despite the challenging circumstances of their separation. All Pat's parents want is for him to get back on his feet-and to share their family's obsession with the Philadelphia Eagles football team. When Pat meets Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence), a mysterious girl with problems of her own, things get complicated. Tiffany offers to help Pat reconnect with his wife, but only if he'll do something very important for her in return. As their deal plays out, an unexpected bond begins to form between them, and silver linings appear in both of their lives

MOVIE - The Beaver

Oddly endearing
Released 5/6/11 Limited
DVD 8/23/11
PG-13 (1:31)
RT:  63  cag:  92
Director:  Jodie Foster
Mel Gibson, Jodie Foster

This is a drama, NOT a comedy!